baked camembert dip with sundried tomatoes, garlic & thyme

I took this baked Camembert dip with sun-dried tomatoes, garlic and thyme to a dinner party around the middle of December and it was a big hit. I served it as an appetizer at our family Christmas day lunch and my sister fell so in love with it she asked if it could be her signature dish. I know lol. I then made it a third time for friends who came for dinner at my house, and they scraped the bowl clean so I knew I was on to a winner here. I have made it with basil and with thyme and both are nice, but I prefer thyme. It couldn’t be easier to do and this four ingredient wonder is set to impress.

The key to success here are the delicious sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil vinaigrette from Ina Paarman. This post is NOT sponsored by the way I just love this product so much. It adds an intense flavour hit to tomato sauces and can liven up a mezze platter like nothing else I know. You don’t need very many to get the flavour bomb you are after.

So roughly chop about 8 – 10 tomatoes with about 4 teaspoons of the delicious sauce and add the crushed garlic and thyme leaves. I like it quite garlicky so add 2 big cloves. I pick about 2 teaspoons of thyme leaves off he stalks. Sidebar: this is literally my second worst cooking prep chore and I can’t believe a gadget to do this hasn’t been invented yet. If they can launch a Tesler into space, surely they could come up with a basic machine to strip thyme leves off its stalks?

Place your wheel of Camembert or cut up wedge or Brie into a small oven proof dish of an appropriate size and slash a few cuts into the surface. You want the tomato mixture to really bake into the cheese. Bake in an oven that is heated to 180C / 350F for 10 – 20 minutes and until the cheese is molten and bubbling around the edges. The reason I have such a wide range of cooking times is because it depends on how big your cheese is. A small Camembert will take a max of 15 minutes, while a bigger cheese like this Dalewood Fromage Lanquedoc will take a bit longer.

Serve this piping hot with slices of fresh bread, toasted baguette, toasted pita chips (my best option here because of the crunch) or crackers.

Besure to tag me on Instagram if you do make this because knowing that you have made it and enjoyed it will bring much joy to my heart.

Recipe

1 wheel of Camembert cheese or a good size wedge of Brie

about 8 sundried tomato wedges (enough to generously cover the surface of the cheese)

1 – 2 large garlic cloves crushed

1 – 2 tsp Thyme leaves picked from the stalks

Pre heat the oven to 180C / 350 F

Place the cheese in a small oven proof dish and cut the surface area with a knife – going about a third of the way through.

Roughly chop the sundried tomateos and mix with the garlic and thyme. Spead this over the surface are of the cheese and bake for about 15 minutes until bubbling and melted through.

If you are using a really big piece of cheese and will be bakig this for longer, you

A few other tasty appetiser snacky things you might like to serve at your next party along with this: